Another Favorite TV Show: The Bachelor

I’m supposed to be writing fiction every night and getting my 4,000-words-a-week in, but instead I find myself in my PJs at a frighteningly early hour, snuggled under a chenille blanket next to Superman, handing him the remote so he’ll show me our long list of shows recorded and coming up. … oh joy, oh joy. … We even have a carefully choreographed routine to get HD shows early on a downstairs DVR while we record other shows at regular time on our upstairs DVR. …

Gah. It’s embarrassing, really.

So what are we watching?

I think they might deserve separate posts!

This one will be about The Bachelor. …

So I’ve seen about half the seasons of The Bachelor/Bachelorette. Sometimes I like them and sometimes I don’t. I can’t quite pin down what specifically makes me like a certain season and why I can shrug my shoulders at another, but I suppose it has to do with the outside drama, how hot I think the bachelor really is (or contestant bachelors are), and how much I think of the bachelorette (or contestant bachelorettes) as someone I’d be friends with, and therefore someone I’d want to find some kind of happiness in love.

(In other words, all the same criteria for a great romance novel!)

But I definitely tuned in to this season because I watched LAST season when Ben got dumped during his proposal of marriage (egads!), and I really liked him and felt bad for him, so I was happy that he’d be the next bachelor. (Even though he’s not very hot. Kind of a boy-next-door, no?)

But I don’t know if he’s making for a very good bachelor this season – do you? I mean, he seems like a really nice guy, but nice guys aren’t all that interesting to watch on television. (And, of course, it makes me think about writing nice-guy characters, who I imagine can get boring to read on the page, too.) In real life, of course, you want a nice guy, but when you’re watching television with a glass of white wine in your hand, you’re sort of wanting something else.

Anyway, Ben is coming across as nice as he probably is, and I truly want him to find someone sweet, but the first two shows have been a little hard to watch. The first show – with all the introductions – was downright excruciating as the bachelorettes all had the lamest/silliest/goofiest things to say. And his reaction always looked like: “Uh … yeah …” I felt sort of sorry for him, thinking he must have gotten stuck with a bunch of crazy women to choose from, but he kept saying they were “great,” so … maybe he was just focused on their cleavage, I don’t know.

Then the second show was getting worse: The crazy was coming out even more, especially in that one woman who was just called a “Blogger” in NYC. I kept thinking she was going to snap at any second, and I was starting to feel really sorry for her, thinking she just should not be on TV. (And who can make a life as a “Blogger,” anyway? Was she independently wealthy or something? I might have missed a part of her story.)

Anyway, the second show was also difficult to watch because I kept feeling sort of maternal toward Ben, like “No, honey, don’t pick that one, she wants to EAT you…” and “No, sweetie, not her, she’s only in this for the GAME of it all; she doesn’t care about you at all…”

I just want to write Ben a letter and give him my recommendations. …

(Realizing, of course, that this was filmed earlier and I can’t save him!!!)

How about you? Are you watching The Bachelor? Does there seem like even one slightly sane woman for him to choose? (Maybe the red-headed one?) Should I just get back to writing my novel?